Taylor Swift accuses Kim Kardashian of character assassination

Taylor Swift has accused Kim Kardashian of "character assassination" after the reality TV star released a recording of her seemingly approving a controversial line in Kanye West's song Famous.

The song - on West's latest album, The Life of Pablo - includes lyrics that claim he propelled her to stardom when he upstaged her at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009 to declare that Beyonce should have won her prize.

West's wife then posted a video of a phone conversation between her husband and Swift in which he said he was working on a song and wanted to include the lyric, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex."

Swift is heard saying she worries about overexposure, but West says the lyric would be good exposure. In the end, she appears to give her blessing.

He responds: "I just had a responsibility to you as a friend. Thanks for being so cool about it."

Many people on social media suggested it proved Swift had lied when she claimed she did not know about the lyric.

But in an Instagram post, which she reposted on her Twitter account on Monday, Swift argued the recording actually proved she had never approved the second half of the lyric, "Why? I made that b**** famous".

"Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me 'that bitch' in his song? It doesn't exist because it never happened," she wrote.

"You don't get to control someone's emotional response to being called 'that bitch' in front of the entire world.

"Of course I wanted to like the song. I wanted to believe Kanye when he told me that I would love the song. I wanted us to have a friendly relationship. He promised to play the song for me, but he never did.

"While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot 'approve' a song you haven't heard.

"Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination."

Upon its release in February, West was condemned by many for the lyric.

This is the latest chapter in a long feud between the pair that now dates back seven years.

In her Instagram post on Sunday, Swift seemed weary of the long-running public battle, writing: "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009."